# Sondra Blake
**Sondra Blake** (also credited as Sondra Kerr Blake; born August 17, 1936, in Los Angeles, California) is an American actress whose screen career runs from the early 1960s to the 2010s, spanning film, made-for-television movies, and episodic television[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/sondra_kerr) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0086715/). She is known to film audiences for roles in *The Killer Elite* (1975), *Bound for Glory* (1976), and *Max Dugan Returns* (1983), and to television viewers for guest appearances on series including *Gunsmoke*, *Kojak*, *The Rockford Files*, and *ER*[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/sondra_kerr) • [3](https://www.metacritic.com/person/sondra-blake/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | August 17, 1936, Los Angeles, California, USA[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/sondra_kerr) |
| Screen career span | Film credits from *The Stripper* (1963) to *The Caretaker* (2016); 12 film credits listed[4](https://www.whatsafterthemovie.com/person/sondra-blake) |
| Busiest decade | The 1980s, with 5 films[4](https://www.whatsafterthemovie.com/person/sondra-blake) |
| Biggest box office hit | *Max Dugan Returns* (1983), $17.6M worldwide[4](https://www.whatsafterthemovie.com/person/sondra-blake) |
| Marriage | Married actor Robert Blake on November 25, 1961; divorced September 12, 1983; two children[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0086715/) |
| Training | Studied with Sanford Meisner, Lee Strasberg, and Stella Adler; lifetime member of The Actors Studio[5](https://www.backstage.com/u/sondra-kerr-blake/) |
## Early career in dance and television
Blake began in performance as a dancer. Her own professional biography states that her dance career began at 12, with her birth certificate altered to show eighteen, when she danced as the lead opposite [Alvin Ailey](https://www.edgepedia.org/alvin-ailey) at the Lester Horton Dance Theater Co.; she subsequently headlined on tour with the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera before taking on choreography and dancing for television, appearing on the Jerry Fielding Show and *The 3D Follies*[6](https://infolist.com/profile/sondra-kerr-blake/).
Her television debut credits reach back to the late 1950s and early 1960s: *Gunsmoke* (as Miss Daisy Fair), *Rawhide* (as Teya), and *The Untouchables* (as Mary Kay Spencer), followed by *Ben Casey*, *The Alfred Hitchcock Hour* (as Ruby McCleod), and *Mission: Impossible*[3](https://www.metacritic.com/person/sondra-blake/) • [7](https://watch.plex.tv/pl/person/sondra-blake).
## Film and television-movie work
Her first film credit is *The Stripper* (1963), in the role of Edwina[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/sondra_kerr). Through the 1970s she appeared in supporting parts in theatrical films, including Connie DiAngelo in *In Tandem* (1974), Josephine in [Sam Peckinpah](https://www.edgepedia.org/sam-peckinpah)'s *The Killer Elite* (1975), and Judy in *Bound for Glory* (1976)[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/sondra_kerr) • [7](https://watch.plex.tv/pl/person/sondra-blake).
**Television movies.** She played Ronnie Howard in the original 1976 television movie production of *Helter Skelter*, a role her biography describes as highly acclaimed[6](https://infolist.com/profile/sondra-kerr-blake/) • [7](https://watch.plex.tv/pl/person/sondra-blake). In the early 1980s she appeared in the Joe Dancer television movies starring her then-husband Robert Blake, credited as Charlie in *The Big Black Pill* (1981) and *Joe Dancer III*, and as Charley in *The Monkey Mission* (1981)[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/sondra_kerr). Other credits from this period include *Of Mice and Men* (1981), *Second-Hand Hearts* (1981, as Ermy), and *This Year's Blonde* (1980, as Mrs. Baker)[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/sondra_kerr). Her best-rated film on Rotten Tomatoes is *Max Dugan Returns* (1983), in which she played a teacher[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/sondra_kerr).
**Later work.** After roles in *Roxanne: The Prize Pulitzer* (1989) and *Shoot First: A Cop's Vengeance* (1991), her filmography shows renewed activity in the 2010s with *Wichita* (2016, as Mama) and *The Caretaker* (2016, as Birdie)[4](https://www.whatsafterthemovie.com/person/sondra-blake) • [1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/sondra_kerr). She won Best Supporting Actress at the Chicago Horror Film Festival for *The Caretaker*, and shared Best Supporting Actress honors with [Alexandra Breckenridge](https://www.edgepedia.org/alexandra-breckenridge) at the Rhode Island Film Festival and the San Francisco Short Film Festival for the short film *Grown Ups*[6](https://infolist.com/profile/sondra-kerr-blake/). She also appeared as the Eccentric Old Lady in *Broadcast* (credited by IMDb to 2022)[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0086715/).
## Television guest roles
Metacritic lists 12 television credits, including *Gunsmoke*, *The Untouchables*, *Rawhide*, *The Alfred Hitchcock Hour*, *Mission: Impossible* (1966, as Girl Clerk), *Kojak* (1973, as Marie), *The Rockford Files* (1974, as Doreen Carpenter), *Baretta* (1975, as Candy), *ER* (1994, as Ethel Hayes), *Dangerous Minds* (1996, as Rose), and *Days of our Lives* (2016, as Erlene)[3](https://www.metacritic.com/person/sondra-blake/). Apple TV also lists a guest appearance on *Mannix*[8](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/sondra-blake/umc.cpc.69tnnt1mdwql2v4gb3t6lw7z9).
## Marriage to Robert Blake
In 1961 Blake married the actor Robert Blake, then known as Sondra Kerr; the Associated Press obituary of Robert Blake records that the couple married in 1961 and had two children, Noah and Delinah, before divorcing in 1983[9](https://apnews.com/article/ddf7a0c37dae4690ac82bf377e5aec70). IMDb gives the marriage dates as November 25, 1961 to September 12, 1983, and lists the children as Noah Blake and Deliah Blake[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0086715/).
## Screenwriting and later activities
Her professional biography reports development deals as a screenwriter, in partnership with the producer-director Frank Pierson at HBO, at Disney, and at Landsberg TV in partnership with [Cheech Marin](https://www.edgepedia.org/cheech-marin)[6](https://infolist.com/profile/sondra-kerr-blake/). She co-wrote and toured the piece "Lenny and Honey" in New York City at The Bitter End, The Ballroom, and The Actors Studio[6](https://infolist.com/profile/sondra-kerr-blake/).
## References
1. [Sondra Blake Movies & TV Shows List, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/sondra_kerr)
2. [Sondra Blake (I), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0086715/)
3. [Sondra Blake, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/person/sondra-blake/)
4. [Sondra Blake: Movies & Box Office, What's After the Movie](https://www.whatsafterthemovie.com/person/sondra-blake)
5. [Sondra Kerr Blake, Professional Profile, Backstage](https://www.backstage.com/u/sondra-kerr-blake/)
6. [Sondra Kerr Blake, InfoList profile](https://infolist.com/profile/sondra-kerr-blake/)
7. [Sondra Blake Movies and TV Shows, Plex](https://watch.plex.tv/pl/person/sondra-blake)
8. [Sondra Blake Movies and Shows, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/sondra-blake/umc.cpc.69tnnt1mdwql2v4gb3t6lw7z9)
9. [Robert Blake, actor acquitted in wife's killing, dies at 89, Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/ddf7a0c37dae4690ac82bf377e5aec70)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames Be to Bo*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license